Last year the City National Bank Crystal Card came out offering a 100,000 points signup bonus. The card was hard to get approved for and it took me a couple of months of sending in various info and forms.

At the end of May one of the best credit card hotel perks came to an end.

When it was announced that the Club Carlson’s 2nd night free benefit was ending, many of us were in a mad dash- to try to spend our points the best way possible to take advantage before the benefit ended.

I initially redeemed 304,000 points on a variety of future trips. I then used an additional 176,000 points on three additional stays.